A Fundraiser By Gimme! Coffee For Refugee Assistance Organizations

If there is a silver lining to the current administration’s continued attempts at implementing a travel ban—and let’s be really honest, the lining is gossamer thin and probably more of a fake, shiny grey than actual silver, but it is nonetheless a small upside of a very large, shitty cloud—it is the way a large section of coffee industry has unified and mobilized against it. Sprudge’s ACLU fundraiser was an overwhelming success, bringing together 800+ shops from the U.S. and abroad to raise over $450,000.

The success of that fundraiser has prompted some coffee companies to hold events of their own to benefit their local community, like the Chocolate Barista/Modbar pop-up that took place over the weekend in Tempe. And starting today, another locally-driven fundraiser begins. From now through the end of the year, Upstate New York’s Gimme! Coffee will donate $1 from the sale of every bag of their Rally Blend to a local non-profit organization.

Both online and in-store purchases of the blend of naturally processed Ethiopian and washed Honduran coffees will count toward the donation total. “Inspired by the immense success of the Sprudge ACLU Fundraiser last month,” Gimme!’s founder and CEO Kevin Cuddeback “wanted to keep the momentum going:”

We believe that our communities are stronger when we welcome those in need and those who want to make a positive contribution—no matter where they come from. We welcome refugees and immigrants, and we support local and national efforts to defend and preserve the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Every three months, Gimme! will select two new non-profits to split the proceeds from the quarter. The first two organizations are Ithaca Welcomes Refugees and the International Refugees Assistance Project, both of which “provide critical, life-saving aid to refugees in New York State.” The donations will go toward resettlement assistant and legal aid for refugees in Ithaca and the New York City area.